Experts agree this spells good news for India’s ailing aviation industry as well as for passengers, though it may take some time before foreign airlines will actually invest here. Here’s a roundup of what experts and executives had to say:

Amber Dubey, an aviation expert at the Indian unit of accounting firm KPMG, said that opening up foreign investment in the aviation sector “will create access to capital, global connectivity, technology and best practices” and “could lead to the establishment of new airlines in India and perhaps, change in ownership structure of certain Indian carriers.”

For Mr. Dubey, this meant good news for consumers: “All this augurs well for Indian passengers. Increased competition would lead to better offerings, greater efficiency, cheaper airfares and more power to the passenger.”

Adi Godrej, the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry, was confident that “allowing Foreign Airlines to invest in civil aviation will bring in much needed capital into the Airlines industry thereby enabling healthy re-capitalization of airline companies, promoting vital connectivity and bringing benefits to all stakeholders including banks.”

The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a market research firm, in a note said that allowing foreign airline investment in India will bring long-term benefits to the industry in India, in terms of expertise as well as financial and strategic capital.

However, CAPA warned that foreign carriers are unlikely to pour cash into India overnight: “The balance sheets of most of the incumbent carriers are relatively weak, and the sector faces numerous structural challenges, so foreign airlines will make their own assessments about whether they consider a carrier to be a suitable investment at this time. Just because they are now allowed to invest does not necessarily mean that they will.” CAPA singled out GoAir and SpiceJet as the Indian airlines with the highest chances of drawing foreign investment.

Overall, its tone was cautious but upbeat: “If a predictable framework can be established and combined with improvements to the structural dynamics of the sector then Indian aviation has a very positive long term outlook. We are a long way from that, but today’s announcement is an important step in the right direction which all stakeholders should welcome.”